U.S. homes for sale increased in October even as fewer properties came to market and fewer buyers signed contracts, CNBC reported Monday, citing Realtor.com and Zillow¹.

Realtor.com counted 183,500 active listings in October, 7.4% more than a year earlier and the fastest annual increase in eight months, according to CNBC¹.

Active listings have risen each month since February, CNBC said, even though new listings were 7.5% lower than in October 2025¹.

National supply is 6.6% below typical pre-pandemic levels, the narrowest gap since the pandemic, the report said¹.

Just over 20% of sellers reduced asking prices in October, about the same share as in September and in October a year earlier, with no meaningful rise in delistings, CNBC reported¹.

Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said buyers are pulling back as higher mortgage rates reduce purchasing power while sellers list less often without a broad wave of price cuts¹.

"The market is cooling on both sides, but in different ways," Hale said, according to CNBC¹.

Mortgage rates eased slightly from September but remained more than a percentage point higher than a year earlier, CNBC said, weighing on sales¹.

Newly pending sales, meaning signed contracts rather than closings, fell 16.8% in October from a year earlier, Zillow data showed, the largest annual drop since August 2023 and the slowest October since 2018¹.

Zillow estimated the monthly mortgage payment on a typical U.S. home at $2,004 in October, assuming a 20% down payment and excluding taxes and insurance, up 12.8% from a year earlier and 4.8% from September¹.

Mischa Fisher, Zillow's chief economist, said November looks set for a larger contraction but that the slowdown's pace should ease into the new year if rates ease, according to a statement quoted by CNBC¹.

Sources

1. CNBCHome listings pile up in October, but sellers won't slash prices8:54 AM

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